8 Bands Named After People Not In The Band

Bands like Van Halen, The Alan Parsons Project, Phish and Santana all are named after members in the band. But what about bands named after people NOT in the band? Here's a look at eight of them:

1. Pink Floyd

There’s a record executive in the song “Have A Cigar” that says, “Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?” Thing is, of course, this was the band responding to (and mocking) the often-asked question. But in reality, the name of the band comes from band member Syd Barrett, who took bluesman Pink Anderson and combined it with another bluesman named Floyd Council. So if you’re ever trying to come up with a good name for another successful rock band, you might consider Anderson Council.

2. Lynyrd Skynyrd

Nope, Mr. Skynyrd never played for the southern rockers. In fact, the band named themselves after their gym teacher and basketball coach, Mr. Leonard Skinner. After Skinner died, one of the surviving members of the rock band had this to say: "Coach Skinner had such a profound impact on our youth that ultimately led us to naming the band, which you know as Lynyrd Skynyrd, after him. Looking back, I cannot imagine it any other way.”

3. Hootie and the Blowfish

While some think that front man Darius Rucker was Hootie and his bandmates were the Blowfish, the truth is that Rucker was both Hootie and the Blowfish! As for the meaning: there was a kid in Rucker's high school nicknamed Hootie because he looked like an owl. There was another kid with puffed up cheeks that they called Blowfish.

4. Tilly and the Wall

Nope, no Tilly in this band. The name comes from a kids’ book, according to an interview with one of the dancers, who credits her time as a grade-school teacher prior to joining Tilly for the idea. “It’s actually the title of a children’s book. It’s just about outsiders overcoming obstacles, that kind of story,” she says. “We didn’t even think about the story that much, but it ended up fitting our band really well.”

5. Belle and Sebastian

No Belle. No Sebastian here. Just some band mates inspired by a 1960s novel by Cécile Aubry about a six-year-old boy named Sébastien and his dog Belle,

6. Freddy Jones Band

Sorry to disappoint again, but not only is there no Freddy Jones or Jones Freddy in the band, but apparently the band has never definitively revealed the name's source.

7. Aiden

This Seattle-based band doesn’t have an Aiden. Instead, the band members named the group after a character in the 2002 film The Ring.

8. Alice Cooper

They were first called the Earwigs, then Nazz, before settling on Alice Copper. The name is said to have been inspired by their Ouija Board, which put them in contact with a spirit named Alice Cooper. When lead singer, Vincent Furnier, went solo, he took the name for himself.

Australian Charity Releases Album of Cat-Themed Ballads to Promote Feline Welfare

BY Kirstin Fawcett

September 21, 2017

iStock

An Australian animal charity is helping save the nation’s kitties one torch song at a time, releasing a feline-focused musical album that educates pet owners about how to properly care for their cats.

Around 35,000 cats end up in pounds, shelters, and rescue programs every year in the Australian state of New South Wales, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Microchipping and fixing cats, along with keeping closer tabs on them, could help reduce this number. To get this message out, the RSPCA’s New South Wales chapter created Cat Ballads: Music To Improve The Lives Of Cats.

The five-track recording is campy and fur-filled, with titles like "Desex Me Before I Do Something Crazy" and "Meow Meow." But songs like “I Need You” might tug the heartstrings of ailurophiles with lyrics like “I guess that’s goodbye then/but you’ve done this before/the window's wide open/and so’s the back door/you might think I’m independent/but you’d be wrong.” There's also a special version of the song that's specifically designed for cats’ ears, featuring purring, bird tweets, and other feline-friendly noises.

Together, the tunes remind us how vulnerable our kitties really are, and provide a timely reminder for cat owners to be responsible parents to their furry friends.

“The Cat Ballads campaign coincides with kitten season, which is when our shelters receive a significantly higher number of unwanted kittens as the seasons change,” Dr. Jade Norris, a veterinary scientist with the RSPCA, tells Mental Floss. “Desexing cats is a critical strategy to reduce unwanted kittens.”

Missed your chance to watch ABBA perform live at the peak of their popularity? You’re in luck: Fans will soon be able to see the group in concert in all their chart-topping, 1970s glory—or rather, they’ll be able to see their holograms. As Mashable reports, a virtual version of the Swedish pop band is getting ready to go on tour.

ABBA split up in 1982, and the band hasn't been on tour since. (Though they did get together for a surprise reunion performance in 2016.) All four members of ABBA are still alive, but apparently not up for reentering the concert circuit when they can earn money on a holographic tour from the comfort of their homes.

The musicians of ABBA have already had the necessary measurements taken to bring their digital selves to life. The final holograms will resemble the band in the late 1970s, with their images projected in front of physical performers. Part of the show will be played live, but the main vocals will be lifted from original ABBA records and recordings of their 1977 Australian tour.

ABBA won’t be the first musical act to perform via hologram. Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson, and Dean Martin have all been revived using the technology, but this may be one of the first times computerized avatars are standing in for big-name performers who are still around. ABBA super-fans will find out if “SOS” still sounds as catchy from the mouths of holograms when the tour launches in 2019.